Truyện Kiều and the 2 laments of the 18th century

This blog post is written for my non-Vietnamese friends who are interested in Truyện Kiều (The Tale of Kieu) and intend to read it in translation.

A literary work doesn’t exist in a vacuum—it is part of a tradition, and must be seen in context.   
Earlier on, I paused my reading of Truyện Kiều to read 2 important literary works in 18th century: Chinh phụ ngâm (Lament of a Warrior’s Wife) in chữ nôm by Đoàn Thị Điểm or Phan Huy Ích (still a debate), translated from chữ hán by Đặng Trần Côn (412 lines) and Cung oán ngâm khúc (Lament of a Royal Concubine) by Nguyễn Gia Thiều (356 lines). It should be added that Chinh phụ ngâm in chữ nôm isn’t seen as a translation, but as a literary work in its own right, and these 3 form the 3 most important classics in Vietnamese literature. 
As part of the Vietnamese literary tradition, which was itself influenced by the Chinese tradition, the poems are full of Chinese classical allusions, and conventions—for example, certain flowers are used to describe a woman’s beauty and delicacy (similar to conventions in Petrarchan sonnets). The allusions make the poems richer, as each line has layers of meaning, but sometimes Nguyễn Gia Thiều in Cung oán ngâm khúc or Nguyễn Du in Truyện Kiều packs lots of meaning, now obscure, into just a few words. The disadvantage is that I cannot read them, especially Truyện Kiều, without notes (see my tweet to have a general idea of how I’ve been reading Nguyễn Du’s work), and the translator sometimes chooses to weave the explanations into the translation itself, which is inelegant, and sometimes sacrifices the extra layer of meaning (see my tweets about the 4 acclaimed translations of Truyện Kiều—2 of them have no notes.). 
Reading Chinh phụ ngâm and Cung oán ngâm khúc, I can see their influence on Truyện Kiều, but it’s more interesting to see Nguyễn Du’s departure, and innovations. All 3 works were written in chữ nôm (the 1st writing system for Vietnamese), which was an important step for Vietnamese literature, but the 18th century poems were written in song thất lục bát form (7-7-6-8) whereas Truyện Kiều was in lục bát (6-8). As written before, the 6-8 is a Vietnamese verse form which is not strictly academic/ high class—it’s enjoyed by everyone in society, and most folk poems were in this form.
All 3 works place a woman in the centre—the authors write about the loneliness and suffering of a woman, but at the same time also say something more about women and Vietnamese society in general. For example, Chinh phụ ngâm is about the feelings of a warrior’s wife, and reflects the turbulent society in 18th century Vietnam. 
In Cung oán ngâm khúc, Nguyễn Gia Thiều must have been influenced by Chinh phụ ngâm in chữ nôm—like Đoàn Thị Điểm/ Phan Huy Ích, he writes a lament, chooses the song thất lục bát form, focuses on a woman’s perspective and feelings, etc. but he goes further. Cung oán ngâm khúc is more critical of the patriarchal society—Nguyễn Gia Thiều tells the story of an imperial concubine who enjoys the monarch’s favour at the beginning but is soon forgotten and left to live out her life in isolation. Even bolder, he doesn’t only write about the concubine’s loneliness—we can tell that she also misses sex, to put it crudely, but as one among many beautiful women, she’s just discarded. Nguyễn Gia Thiều’s poem is a critique of the patriarchal society as well as the vanity of worldly aspirations. 
Look at these lines from Chinh phụ ngâm: 

Cảnh buồn người thiết tha lòng 
Cành cây sương đượm, tiếng trùng mưa phun. 

In Phan Huy’s translation: 

The mournful scenes enhance my heart’s dejection,
Branches dewed with frost and insect’s buzz in rain.

The mournful scene reflects, and adds to, the woman’s sadness. 
Now see these lines from Cung oán ngâm khúc: 

Tình buồn cảnh lại vô duyên,
Tình trong cảnh ấy, cảnh bên tình này.

I cannot find a good translation of these lines and do not dare to translate them myself, but these lines find an echo in Truyện Kiều: 

Cảnh nào cảnh chẳng gieo sầu
Người buồn cảnh có vui đâu bao giờ? 

In Huỳnh Sanh Thông’s translation: 

But her own gloom would tinge each sight or scene, 
when you feel grief, can what you see give joy?

Different from Đặng Trần Côn (Chinh phụ ngâm), who writes gloomy scenes to reflect the character’s emotional states (think of the use of rain and storms in literature and cinema—rain conveys sadness, storms and thunder can mean rage or violent temperament, or create a sense of foreboding), Nguyễn Du learns from Nguyễn Gia Thiều to describe nature as appears to a character—to a gloomy person, a scenery, otherwise cheerful, now appears joyless and melancholic.  
There’s more influence. Another example is these lines from Cung oán ngâm khúc: 

Thôi thôi ngoảnh mặt làm thinh,
Thử xem con tạo gieo mình nơi nao.

In Phan Huy’s translation: 

I can do nothing but silently wait and see,
Whereto in the world destiny will bring me.

There’s an echo in Truyện Kiều: 

Cũng liều nhắm mắt đưa chân 
Mà xem con tạo xoay vần đến đâu? 

In Huỳnh Sanh Thông’s translation: 

She shut her eyes and headlong flung herself 
to see how far the Maker would roll her.

The word “destiny” and “the Maker” are translations of the same Vietnamese word in the 2 poems: “con tạo”, which means “tạo hóa”—the Creator, but the meaning in context is destiny/ fate. 
In short, there is influence of Chinh phụ ngâm and Cung oán ngâm khúc on Truyện Kiều, but compared to these poems, Truyện Kiều is on an entirely different level.
First of all, it is much longer. Chinh phụ ngâm in chữ nôm has 412 lines, Cung oán ngâm khúc has 356 lines, whereas Truyện Kiều is based on a novel and has 3254 lines. The story of Truyện Kiều has a span of 15 years. 
The 2 poems of the 18th century focus on the perspective of a single character—each lament is an internal monologue. Truyện Kiều switches between perspectives—Kiều’s is the main one, but sometimes Nguyễn Du switches to the perspective of someone else, such as Kim Trọng (her first love), Mã Giám Sinh (known as Scholar Ma in English translation), Hoạn Thư (Lady Hoan in English translation), etc. 
Nguyễn Du also gives each character a distinct voice. So far, I’ve found Tú Bà (Madame Tu) and Hoạn Thư (Lady Hoan) the 2 most fascinating and vivid characters, but I’m not sure how much of their voices is retained in translation. Truyện Kiều has great poetry, and also has a multiplicity of voices, all distinct and recognisable. 
This is a masterpiece. More should be said about the characters in Truyện Kiều, but I’m going to stop, for now. 



If you like my blog and would like to support it, please click here. Support would be highly appreciated.